312 BULLETIN 58, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



neck; underside whitish, ventrals outhned with black, and checkered 

 with large sc^iiare blotches; a black median line on the suture between 



the subcaudals. 



TJimensions. 



mm. 



Total length 561 



Snout to vent 470 



Vent to tip of tail 91 



Variation. — The normal number of supralabials is seven, but occa- 

 sionally eight are found; thus in both of our Korean specimens there 

 are eight on one side, and Doctor Werner found a similar number among 

 five Chinese examples. Twenty-one scale rows seem to be the con- 

 stant number. Boulenger mentions that two preoculars occur rarely. 

 In the Korean specimen in the museum of the ]\Iichigan University 

 the temporals show the unusual number 1+2. Doctor Wall men- 

 tions that in 15 Chinese specimens examined by him only one had 

 four lower labials in contact with anterior chin-shields. Ventrals 

 range between 162 and 190, subcaudals between 47 and 68. 



Hahitat. — China, from Peking to Hainan, according to specimens 

 in British Museum. ° It occurs also in eastern Siberia from Lake 

 Baikal to Amurland and Ussuri, where it has been taken at Vladivos- 

 tok and Possiet Bay, near the Korean boundary, while the United 

 States National Museum has two specimens collected by the late Mr. 

 P. L. Jouy at Seoul, Korea, October 8, 1883. Another specimen from 

 Korea, collected by Mr. G. A. Olinger, is in the museum of the Michi- 

 gan University, and a third in the St. Petersburg Museum. 



Swinhoe obtained it at Tamsui, in Formosa, and sent the speci- 

 mens to British Museum. 



List of specimens of Elaphc rufodorsata. 



a Description, p. 311; figs. 269-271. 



*> Boulenger, Cat. U, p. 44. 



o As for the locality Hainan, see under Elaphe dione, p. 318, footnote. 



